The Pound of his Heartbeat
by AngelfishGirl
Summary: When Sasuke gets poisoned by Orochimaru and can’t save himself, what will happen, as he lies dying on the cold, stone floor? No pairings unless you want there to be. It's meant Naruto Sasuke friendship book only, but you can make it love if you want.
1. Punishment

The Pound of his Heartbeat

Summary: When Sasuke get's poisoned by Orochimaru and can't save himself, what will happen, as he lies dying on the cold, stone floor?

Pairings: You can make it NaruSasu is you want, but it doesn't have to be NaruSasu if you don't want it to be.

_The Pound of his Heartbeat_

Sasuke silently strolled through the eerie hallway illuminated by flickering torches. The silent _clack… clack… _of his sandals echoing throughout the hideout.

He was shivering. Orochimaru hadn't told him it was raining outside, and he hadn't even _been_ outside since he first came here. The rain was nothing but a painful memory to Sasuke, and he was quite relieved he would hardly ever have to see rain again.

How long had he been here for? He lost track after 24 days. After awhile, he stopped caring about how many days he would be trapped in this silent, dull place.

Releasing a held back sigh, he turned and entered his dark room.

Silence. Darkness. The way Sasuke liked it. It reminded him of himself. It was comforting to him. Especially the darkness. It may not seem like it, but, when you need darkness, it is there for you. When nobody accepts you, darkness always will. If you can accept darkness with open arms, it will become the certain comfort you have awaited in your life. Comfort that seems softer than a baby's skin.

Darkness can wrap you up in a warm black blanket, and let you rest your eyes. You don't have to do anything to yourself, or others. When people demand you to speak, yet you desperately want to avoid it, darkness can allow you to do just that. Like a child sleeping with a parent, it will lull you to sleep, a sleep deeper than the heaviest dosage of anesthesia, if it allows.

Darkness was Sasuke's best friend, teammate, and power.

He lied down on his bed, the small cot that Kabuto had wheeled into his room awhile ago, after he was finally allowed sleeping on something other than the cold, stone floor.

Finally, after what seemed like weeks since he had done it, he allowed his eyelids to slide shut, his body welcoming the sleep that flushed out his exhaustion.

He woke up three hours later, the fatigue of his over excessive training with his snake sensei almost completely washed out with the much needed rest.

He heard a strong knock against his door, with a playful voice to accompany it. Sasuke was well aware of a painful headache forming. "Sasuke? You awake?" It was Kabuto. Just as he thought.

Sasuke didn't bother answering to the medic, he never liked him, and he knew that Kabuto wasn't there to make him feel better in anyway. Most likely, he was either there to summon him to Orochimaru, try an experiment on him, or just mock him about something. Sasuke stifled a groan that threatened to escape from his lips, and he lied his head down again. His hair, still damp and ruffled from training, rustled as it swept across his pillow. He had hoped that the sound would make it seem like he was sleeping, and had just turned over.

Kabuto wouldn't fall for it.

He opened the door, his emotionless eyes landing on Sasuke's "sleeping" form. He smirked evilly as he spoke.

"Come on, Sasuke. Orochimaru wants you, and you know feigning sleep won't make anything better. I know you're awake. And before you say anything, I have watched you sleep before, Sasuke, you never turn in a light sleep. Never. Only in the darkest, deepest of your sleeps do you shuffle around, and it you do it very silently. You happen to be like a corpse sleeping, Sasuke. Even shuffling you don't make much noise."

After a few seconds of Sasuke thinking of a way to outsmart Kabuto's cleverness, and coming up blank he just snorted.

"Why would you even fake sleeping?" Kabuto asked, a confused look on his face.

Sasuke gave a soft _hn _as if he was still sleepy. "I'm still tired, that's all." He said, rubbing his eye.

Kabuto gave him a halfhearted smile. "Well, after speaking with Lord Orochimaru, you can get some shuteye. It's actually nearly midnight. You fell asleep a lot earlier than normal, Lord Orochimaru must have worked you pretty hard. You rarely fall asleep before ten."

Sasuke just blinked, his face expressionless. He never really was a social person, and he hated to speak if it wasn't absolutely necessary. It was just his personality.

Sasuke stood up, then followed Kabuto out the door, towards Orochimaru's room. He had been able to cut off all of his fears of everything, except of Orochimaru. Orochimaru's room sent tingles up his spine, if Orochimaru ever turned his back on him…

Sasuke threw the thought away, focusing on calming himself. Orochimaru can sense any hint of emotions lingering off somebody. He was that powerful.

He managed to calm himself before he reached Orochimaru's room. Kabuto knocked, then opened the door. He bowed to his sensei respectfully.

"Lord Orochimaru, I have brought Sasuke like you said." Kabuto told him, cautious of his tone of voice.

Orochimaru gave a small, evil chuckle. "Excellent." He hissed, "Thank you, Kabuto."

Kabuto bowed again, backing up a couple feet as Sasuke stepped forward, staring at his sensei in the eye. He couldn't help noticing how much worse his headache had gotten in the small amount of time.

He stood up, making his way towards Sasuke, who didn't do as much as flinch.

"Glad you could come, I thought you'd sleep through the next two days, Sasuke. You were so tired. You were definitely tired. You look pretty worn out while you slept, we decided not to wake you."

Sasuke visibly cringed. _They've been watching me sleep? _He wondered, feeling an immediate loss of privacy.

Orochimaru seemed to read his thoughts, and smiled. "It's alright, Sasuke. We had only come to check on you a few times. We were worried, you weren't waking to our presences. That worries me deeply, Sasuke, what it if had been the enemy? You would be dead." He hissed with a tint of playfulness to it.

"Now, to what I had called you here for…" Sasuke glanced up at his sensei's venom eyes.

"You've been recently lagging a lot in your training. You're losing your strength, you've been low on Chakra. You haven't been doing your best recently, and have been sleeping a lot more than usual, excluding tonight because of the extra training. Care to comment?" Orochimaru hissed, flashing a warning sign through his eyes, which pointed at Sasuke like daggers.

"…" Sasuke didn't want to comment, he knew his power has been recently going downhill. He wasn't lazy, and he knew Orochimaru knew that. Truth was, he was training too frequently. He didn't have enough time between training sessions to recover from wounds he received. Kabuto never healed him, partly because Sasuke didn't want anything to do with him, and also because Kabuto didn't want to waste Chakra on somebody like Sasuke. He hated him.

"Not responding huh?" Orochimaru hissed, his tongue spinning in a complete circle in front of him. He was now standing only a couple feet away from Sasuke. He stared down at the boy with a threatening stare.

"I think you should be punished for both your lack of training and your refusal to speak, don't you agree Kabuto?" He asked, glancing towards his medic, who only nodded and walked beside Orochimaru, smiling.

Sasuke immediately got into a battle position, deepening his stance, reaching for his sword with one hand, and blocking his neck with the other.

Orochimaru shook his head and laughed like he had just heard the funniest joke ever.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes and was about to ask what was so funny when he felt a row of sharp teeth clamp down tightly into the left side of his neck. Sasuke was immediately distracted by the pain and turned his head sharply to try to pry the snake off his neck, forgetting about his sensei and the medic ninja, who was shuffling around in his clothes.

He grabbed a needle, flipping off the small lid it had. Before Sasuke could see what was happening, he felt a sharp prick on the other side of his neck, then a fluid sliding through his neck.

He kept his neck still, he had a snack viciously biting down harder and harder on his neck on one side, and on the other side, a needle, which Kabuto still had a firm grip on the needle. Once the fluid was gone, and all of it was in Sasuke's system, he slide the needle.

Sasuke twisted around and pinned the snake to the ground, punching it two times before he felt weak. He found his arm heavy, and he couldn't lift it. In fact, he couldn't keep his body up from the ground at all. He tried to lift his body up from the ground, but gave up and fell onto the stone.

Kabuto snickered. "I have found that those calming serums work well on him."

Orochimaru laughed, casually approaching Sasuke, who was lying curled on his side glancing up scared. When Orochimaru started bending down, Sasuke closed his eyes tightly, so tight it hurt. Sweat trickled down his forehead, and he tried to inch away from his sensei.

"I wouldn't move too much, Sasuke. The poison from that Black Snake will quickly spread."

_Black Snake? I was attacked by a BLACK SNAKE!? If I would've known that I would've kept still!_

A Black Snake. The most deadly of all snakes in Orochimaru's Sound Village. When bitten, the poison immediately affects you. You die in a minimum of three days, suffering for at least those days. Afterwards, the second three days passes, you most likely die. If you don't die, you continue suffering. Orochimaru developed the poison in the snake, which was once harmless.

Sasuke couldn't believe it. The poison's only cure was to undergo surgery and get it removed that way.

"Lord Orochimaru?" His voice was high pitched, and it made him visibly flinch.

Orochimaru's eyes glared at him, but with a smile. An odd mixture. "What is it, Sasuke?" He asked, his voice icy.

"Why kill me? Don't you need me as a…" he coughed, the poison was starting to affect him. "…vessel?" He finished.

Orochimaru's evil smirk returned to his face, he brushed the hair out of Sasuke's face, which made Sasuke want to throw up. Those pale, icy fingertips brushing against his skin made Sasuke very uncomfortable.

"If you can't survive this more than two days after the death point, you are not worthy of being my next vessel." He hissed.

_Two days!? _Sasuke's mind was screaming. _People can't even survive the first second after the three day mark! My chances of surviving after the three day line are 20% at best…_

Orochimaru picked him up in his arms and walked out of his room, making Sasuke want to kill himself.

Seeing Orochimaru was gross enough, now Orochimaru was HOLDING him!

The calming serum was possibly the only thing keeping him from lashing out at Orochimaru, poisoned or not.

He started to drift off, never realizing his own tiredness until then. He hated falling asleep in Orochimaru's arms, but the drowsiness was overwhelming.

He closed his eyes, slowly falling asleep.

Orochimaru heard his breaths even out and his head hit his chest lightly as Sasuke fell asleep, and he gave a evil smirk, as he walked to Sasuke's room and lied him down in his bed.

**Chapter 1, DONE!**

**I don't know how long it will be until chapter two is out, but it definitely won't be a long time like a month or whatever. Longest wait will probably be a couple week, PM me if it's not done in a week so I can get it out if I forget.**

**REVIEW!!!**

**Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed! No pairings in this story by the way! **

**~SasukeUchihasGuardian**


	2. The Inner Torture Within Sasuke

Chapter 2: The Inner Torture Within Sasuke

**Sneak Peak of chapter 3 at the end! :D**

When Sasuke awoke, he mindlessly flopped his arm over his eyes, letting out a small moan of annoyance of the throbbing headache that seemed to stab knife wounds into his brain. Where was he? What happened? His mind felt so fuzzy… the bed felt so warm and comfortable. He desperately wanted to snuggle back in to the covers and fall into another warm, calming sleep. The darkness was much too comfortable for him to open his eyes.

He heard the faint sound of water dripping. A sink? A leak in the rock ceiling? He couldn't tell. He smelt the faint smell of blood, which didn't bother him much. Orochimaru's hideout always smelt like blood because of the merciless experiments Kabuto and Orochimaru did on people.

Sasuke unusually felt fatigue just from using minimal Chakra to search around without his eyesight. It was strange. It was weird enough that he didn't want to open his eyes to look around, now he felt strange fatigue? What _happened? _

Still curious about what had happened, and why he couldn't remember, Sasuke slowly drifted off.

His eyes shot open at the speed of light two hours later. A loud gasp escaped from his lips as he bolted upright from his pillow. He was immediately greeted by the same pounding headache. He _remembered!_ The serum they had used on him must have made his mind muddled.

A black snake… He couldn't believe it. He wouldn't survive something that deadly. Never. He shut his eyes painfully at the thought of him dying before killing Itachi. He promised himself he wouldn't until he did so, but now, he was sitting there, dying.

The reality of it crushed his heart, like a cold blade taking the life of an infant. Sasuke wanted to cry; he kept his head low, silently pleading for his life. He knew praying wouldn't help. He had committed countless crimes. Killing, abandoning friends, leaving his home, wanting to kill his own blood… he closed his eyes tight shut until they stung painfully. He was surprised they didn't start bleeding.

He couldn't hold back any longer. Silent tears dripped from his chin, soaking the blanket. Sobs escaped. He lowered his head, praying that nobody would walk into his room during his time of weakness.

The next ten minutes was spent with unstoppable tears spilling from his eyes. Finally, he regained control, and it wasn't long after that when he started to feel dizzy. Another effect of the poison.

He kept his head still and he closed his eyes. I tried to calm his mind, which ended up working after what seemed like ages to him.

Slowly, he drifted off into an exhausted, dreamless sleep.

He woke himself up with his uncontrollable coughing fit. Tiny scarlet red droplets of blood sprayed the white sheets on his bed. He clutched his head in agony, letting out an awkward scream between coughs.

Twenty minutes of coughing finally seized, leaving Sasuke lying on the bed, panting uncontrollably at the pain in his throat. He wanted to tear his own throat out to stop the agony, ripping his throat out wouldn't be as painful as what he was facing right now.

Sasuke screamed out in pain, clutching his throat as he jumped to his knees. He heard footsteps in the distance, but his hearing seemed to… morph. Sounds went bounced in different echoes. He could only hear the _thump_ as his door was slammed open and someone rushed inside.

He tried to open his eyes but everything was swerving, moving in wave-like structures slowly.

Somebody touched his arm, making him hiss in agony. He let out another scream, and he could just make out somebody saying "Sasuke!" before it dispersed in all its frequencies.

He felt something get slapped onto his face, and he tried to scream, but his voice felt shattered. All that came out was a worthless moan.

Kabuto's POV:

The more he kept breathing in the anesthetic the faster he started to calm down. I could see fresh tear marks down his cheeks, and when he had finally calmed down enough to open his eyes and look at me, I noticed some things: pleading, tears, agony, and fear.

All of them, except agony, seemed way out of the ordinary for Sasuke.

I sat there for… hmm… I'd say about… twenty seconds? Yea, that sounds about right, twenty seconds. I knew that the anesthesia I was using took a little longer, because I was using a lighter dosage of it, and using one that took longer to affect him, but I expected his eyes to start getting that clouded, delirious look to them after twenty, and for him to pass out at about forty-five, maybe fifty seconds, but it was strange. Sasuke didn't for almost another whole ten seconds.

His eyes clouded, just as I expected and he got that hypnotic look. He lied there, his panting halting to weak, tired breaths. I sat there, wondering how long it he could hold out with all that panting he had been doing while I had put the mask on. Normally, he'd be out almost instantly by how deep the panting was, but after forty seconds ticked by, I wondered how he was awake. I sat there and waited, still pressing the mask to his face. He didn't fight back an inch, but he also didn't close his eyes, nor did he fall asleep.

Forty-five seconds, with Sasuke lying awake. I wondered if he was at least responsive. _Probably not._ I thought, _he'll be out in the next five seconds._ I waited with a stilled breath as the next five seconds clicked by.

_Click, click, click, click, click… _I sighed and closed my eyes the fifth second struck. I shifted my glasses up before opening them again, but when I did an alarming sight struck my eyes.

Sasuke was still awake!

_How..?_ I thought, but still quickly regained my counting. _Normally, this stuff knocks him out at about forty seconds, but it's been 53!_ I stared unbelievably. I thought that I should ask Sasuke for a response since he wasn't asleep yet.

"Sasuke." I whispered coolly, next to his ear. His hair brushed against his ear with my warm breath.

No response.

_Click, click, click… _Two seconds after I regained my posture wondering why Sasuke hadn't responded to me, I saw his eyes flutter as he sunk into the drug induced sleep.

I glanced at my watch. _61 seconds… _I thought, with bewilderment. I blinked once at Sasuke, then back at the watch, before flipping off the machine and leaving.

_You should thank me, Sasuke. Not only did I just knock you out for the next two days, but I also saved you from Orochimaru. You wouldn't want to deal with him if you woke him up with that irritating screaming of yours…_ I thought as I headed out the door, shutting it behind me, leaving Sasuke alone in a drugged sleep for the next two days.

3rd Person POV (Naruto) (Day 2 ½, Sasuke's death day… tonight):

Naruto darted across the dirt road. _Finally found you, Sasuke!_ He thought with a scowl. A month had passed since he had left to go to Orochimaru for power. Now, Naruto knew where the hideout was, and even where Sasuke was inside the massive underground fort.

He took a step into a deep puddle, splashing muddy water everywhere.

_When I find you Sasuke, you better be ok…_

**I APOLOGIZE FOR THIS CHAPTER BEING SO SHORT! **

**I PROMISE THAT THE NEXT CHAPTER WILL BE EXTRA AWESOME AND PACKED WITH ACTION!!!**

**That's it for chapter two! I believe this book will be four chapters long, but it could be shorter/longer.**

**This is for the people that actually READ my author notes… here's a sneak peak on chapter 3!**

_**Naruto took one step towards Sasuke, freezing in his tracks. "S-Sasuke..?" He whispered, unsure how to react the situation. Sasuke's blank eyes looked up at nothing in particular but the ceiling. Naruto kneeled down next to his teammate, lightly shaking him on the shoulder. "Hey, Sasuke? This isn't funny, come on, wake up! Wake up!" Tears flooded from his eyes as Sasuke's grey-eyed gaze remained fixed on the ceiling. **_

_**Sasuke coughed roughly, and a small twitch escaped from the fingers in his left hand. Blood droplets sprayed the ground, sprinkling the tainted stone with a bright red. He moaned, but never moved and the twitching ceased. **_

_**Naruto looked down at the blood and realized something, it had a purplish tint to it. **__So that's what it is__** Naruto thought. **__Poison from a black snake, the most deadly snake there is._

_**He thought about his choice of tools: knives, food, water, and a scroll that could shoot anesthetics. **__What should I do?__** Naruto's mind raced.**_

_**He surely couldn't use anesthesia or take him back to the village in time. He could tell by the stronger tint of purple that Sasuke would die soon. By tonight.**_

_**He had no choice, he had to do what he had to do. It was risk it all, or have no chance of saving Sasuke.**_

_I have to do this __**Naruto thought, taking out a knife and a small cloth.**_

**Thanks for reading!! ^^**

**~SasukeUchihasGuardian**


	3. Zero Hour

Chapter 3: Zero Hour

Naruto's POV:

"Sasuke!" I called out into my teammate's room. I received nothing back. "Sasuke! Hey, Sasuke!" I called out again, being cautious of other people that may find me wandering around in the hideout. Still no response.

I slowly walked into the room, checking for traps and staying alert in case I sprang one. I reached Sasuke's bed, and through the darkness I was able to see its form.

No Sasuke.

A growl of annoyance escaped from me. Where was he? Was he with somebody? Should I just wait until he returned and then ambush him so he doesn't fight back? Questions rang in my mind.

A pulled up a small chair that Sasuke had in the room and sat next to the door, waiting for Sasuke to open the door so I could ambush him, knock him out, and escape.

I expected to wait for hours until he returned, but I'm known for having impatience. It lasted five minutes.

I got up and walked outside the door, carefully walking down all the hallways. I was alert the whole time, listening and watching for enemies. It seemed dead, like all the souls in the hideout had died away.

But that was impossible. Orochimaru was immortal, and Sasuke wouldn't die. He can't die.

I broke into an unneeded run. I don't know why I did. I guess thinking about Sasuke's death set me off.

As I turned left in a fork in the path, I came across a strange room. Cages. Cages covered the whole room. It was a dead end, but the room was gigantic. Cages lined the walls, and scattered around the room. I took one step, glancing around hastily.

3rd Person POV:

Most of the cages were filled with dead bodies, people who were dying, human experiments, or animals. Some of the injured people moaned, and pleaded Naruto for help.

One person spoke up. It was a young man, bleeding heavily from his side and forehead. "You… You're Naruto Uzumaki, aren't you?" He gasped out. His voice had a high pitch. Naruto nodded.

"Are you looking for Sasuke Uchiha?" He asked. Naruto's eyes went wide in surprise. "Yes! How did you know?" He asked the man.

"I used to live at the Leaf Village; I was captured just months after Sasuke left. The news spread quickly, that you weren't about to give up on him."

Naruto blushed sheepishly, "Yea, I wasn't about to give up on him."

The man nodded, a serious look taking over him. "Well, I am very surprised that you have made it this far, but turn back now." He said.

"What?" Naruto hissed. "I will never turn back on him! Sasuke is my friend!" He raised his voice.

The man coughed. "I didn't mean it like that; I meant you don't _want_ to see him."

Naruto got worried, "Why?" He asked.

"He's over there. Go see him if you want to, but I'm telling you it's not going to be fun. You don't want to see what you're about to see. I think you might want to have your previous memories of him the last."

Naruto looked down on to the ground, confused.

_What HAPPENED? Sasuke, what did you do? _Was the only thing that ran in Naruto's mind as he ran mindlessly in the direction the man showed him. He snorted. "Stupid kid."

Naruto ran and ran until he found the cage Sasuke was in. He couldn't believe what he saw. His eyes widened in surprise at the sight.

Instantly, he gathered Chakra up in his hand. "Rasengan!" He yelled, blasting the metal bars to bits. Sasuke didn't do as much as flinch. He didn't move, like he was frozen in place. Naruto started trembling with worry.

Naruto took one step towards Sasuke, freezing in his tracks. "S-Sasuke..?" He whispered, unsure how to react the situation. Sasuke's blank eyes looked up at nothing in particular but the ceiling. Naruto kneeled down next to his teammate, lightly shaking him on the shoulder. "Hey, Sasuke? This isn't funny, come on, wake up! Wake up!" Tears flooded from his eyes as Sasuke's grey-eyed gaze remained fixed on the ceiling.

Sasuke coughed roughly, and a small twitch escaped from the fingers in his left hand. Blood droplets sprayed the ground, sprinkling the tainted stone with a bright red. He moaned, but never moved and the twitching ceased.

Naruto looked down at the blood and realized something, it had a purplish tint to it._So that's what it is_Naruto thought._Poison from a black snake, the most deadly snake there is._

He thought about his choice of tools: knives, food, water, and a scroll that could shoot anesthetics._What should I do?_Naruto's mind raced.

He surely couldn't use anesthesia or take him back to the village in time. He could tell by the stronger tint of purple that Sasuke would die soon. By tonight.

He had no choice, he had to do what he had to do. It was risk it all, or have no chance of saving Sasuke.

_I have to do this _Naruto thought, taking out a knife and a small cloth.

He laid Sasuke on the floor, and gently tried shaking him awake once again. "Sasuke." He said. "Sasuke!" Sasuke still didn't move. Instead, his eyes closed. "SASUKE! DON'T DIE ON ME!" Naruto screamed. He gave his teammate a soft kick on his arm.

_Cough cough._ Naruto gasped in surprise, eyes darting from his hands soaked from tears, to Sasuke. His eyes were open. He was awake!

"Sasuke!" Naruto exclaimed breathlessly, relieved that he wasn't dead.

"I…Idiot…" He choked.

"Don't talk too much. The poison is taking control of your body. I'm going to need you to stay awake for me ok? I know that it's next to impossible for you to stay awake but if you fall asleep, you may never wake up again. Ok? Just try to stay awake."

Sasuke tried to give a nod but he was too weak. Naruto picked up the kunai, slowly cutting his wrist half an inch. Blood immediately poured from the wound. Sasuke stared back at the ceiling. After about thirty seconds passed, Naruto gripped the cloth, tying it above Sasuke's arm to slow the blood. Then, he tore a piece of his undershirt off and prepared to tie that to Sasuke's wound.

It was about thirty seconds into it when Sasuke started feeling sleepy. The more blood he lost, he sleepier he felt. His eyelids started sagging.

"Don't fall asleep on me." Naruto said, slapping Sasuke's cheek lightly. He forced his eyes open again. Forty seconds ticked by. Naruto fought desperately to keep Sasuke awake, while Sasuke tried to weakly fight it off himself.

After a full minute of bleeding out the poison in Sasuke's body, Naruto used the torn part of his shirt and wrapped it around the wound. Sasuke grimaced in pain, but he couldn't move too much due to losing so much blood.

Blood immediately soaked through the shirt but Naruto could tell that it was slowing down some because of the rag on his forearm stopping blood flow.

Naruto then picked Sasuke up, noticing that he was a lot lighter without all the blood inside him, which was now a growing pool on the ground.

Naruto ran outside of the cage, then darted outside of the prison into the hallway to go find the exit.

He ran and ran until a shadowy figure stopped him in his tracks. He look up and gasped at the man he saw.

"K-Kabuto…" He lost his words. He didn't know how to fight him off without risking Sasuke's life. Sasuke shivered into his chest, still fighting the sleep the hung over his head.

"Relax, Uzumaki. I'm here to help." He said coolly.

"What?" Naruto gasped, but Kabuto had already snatched Sasuke from his arms. "Follow me, and be quiet. Orochimaru will not be pleased if he finds me with you helping Sasuke." Naruto nodded, trailing Kabuto through the hallway.

They ran into Kabuto's medical room, where he healed up people by himself, like a one-room hospital. He lied Sasuke down on a bed. Sasuke immediately gasped and trembled as much as he could. He was scared.

"Calm down, Sasuke. I'm going to heal you as best as I can." Kabuto said, using a Medical Jutsu to breathe life into him. "I have to calm him down, I can't work with him if he's shaking that badly. I can't use anesthesia on him either without killing him." He told Naruto. "I can only soothe his pain, and help calm him down. Will you help me with that?"

Naruto nodded, running to Sasuke's side and kneeling down so his face was next to Sasuke's. He cupped Sasuke's hand in his. "Hey, you'll be alright. Kabuto's a great medic, he can heal you." He said reassuringly.

Sasuke stared at him with blank, grey eyes. Slowly, they started closing. "Hey, don't fall asleep, Sasuke." Naruto said, shaking the hand he was holding. Sasuke's eyes slowly opened half way again, and he turned his head to look at Kabuto, who was preparing blood bags.

"Naruto, go get some AB blood bags in the back over there!" He said. Naruto nodded, quickly darting for the bags. He grabbed some, and handed them to Kabuto, who immediately hooked them up to Sasuke.

"Give me five minutes, Sasuke. Then you can sleep." He told Sasuke. He prepared a syringe, filled with some sort of dense white liquid, and injected it into Sasuke's arm.

"That should help him with the pain." Kabuto told Naruto. After two or three long, unstable minutes passed, Sasuke's trembling increased. He was starting to regain control of his body again.

Kabuto gave him another shot. "That'll help his body fight off the remainder of the poison. Especially the poison lingering in his heart still." He told Naruto, regaining his posture. He let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding.

"He's getting enough blood in him now. He's out of the danger zone. He should be fine with plenty of rest." He said.

Tears of happiness flooded from Naruto's eyes as he laughed with joy.

Sasuke let out a breath of relief, then closed his eyes. This time, nobody stopped him from falling into an exhausted sleep.

Kabuto looked up at the clock in the room. "This is it, this was the final minute of his life. If he still had the poison in his body, he would be dead. After this minute passes, we'll see if we got enough poison out of his body for him to survive."

Sweat beads ran down Naruto's forehead as he watched the clock.

_Click, click, click._

"Ten seconds left." Kabuto said, making Naruto grip Sasuke's hand defensively.

"Nine, eight, seven, six…" Kabuto counted down.

Naruto gulped, _we'll see if we healed you in time. _He thought.

_Click, click, CLICK!_

**That's it for this chapter! :D Hope you enjoyed it!! Yea, kind of a cliff hanger. Sasuke might die if his body can't fight off the amount of poison that was already delivered. You'll find out in chapter 3! :D**

**Thank you for reading! No, no preview in this chapter! xD**

**~SasukeUchihasGuardian**


	4. Blurs

Chapter 4: Blurs

**Here it is... the final chapter...**

_Cough, cough_.

_He's alive!_ Naruto thought with joy at the sight of his teammate's chest heaving up and down with shaky breaths. Kabuto's hand hovered over his chest as he examined him with a Medical Jutsu.

"He's fine, just mentally exhausted, and his mind's a bit unstable, but with plenty of rest which will cure the mental exhaustion too, he'll be just fine. When you take him home, be sure that he's comfortable and keep plenty of water by him." Kabuto said, tossing Naruto a water bottle already filled to the top.

Naruto immediately jumped over the small bed, landing in between Sasuke and Kabuto. He put his arms out to block Kabuto from seeing Sasuke.

"What?" He asked, clearly annoyed.

"Now that you healed Sasuke, what do you plan on doing with him?" Naruto growled.

Kabuto sighed. "Nothing. In fact, I'd like you to take Sasuke back. He's becoming a pain to have around. Being next door to his room, I hear him screaming nearly every night because of his stupid nightmares, which he refuses to take medicine for them because it knocks him out as well. There's more crap I'm tired of too, but you can have your precious Uchiha back." He said.

Naruto lowered his arms only inches, relaxing slightly. Kabuto dug through a drawer.

"Here, give him two of these every couple of hours. It should help with the mental exhaustion." He threw a medication at Naruto. Then he dug through the drawer more. "These should help him with the pain, but it will also knock him out pretty fast. Don't tell him that though, or else he'll refuse to take them. He won't have any memory of it putting him to sleep either, so don't worry about coming up with an excuse for that." Kabuto smirked, but not evilly.

Naruto nodded, stuffing the pill bottles in his pocket.

Kabuto walked to the back wall, touching some certain rock that made a hidden door open. It led straight to outdoors.

"There you go." Kabuto said.

Naruto nodded, then turned around, picking up Sasuke in his arms. He shuffled and started waking up. He groaned, then grimaced as pain shot through his entire body.

Kabuto knew this would happen. Often after taking out the poison, pain followed. Depending on the person, it varied from an hour to a few days.

Sasuke's would most likely last a few days, but Kabuto wasn't sure. He could never be sure.

Naruto shifted him slightly in his arms, then darted out the door, nodding a small thank you to Kabuto. Kabuto smiled and waved them out. Then shut the door, looking at the bed, where they done all the work.

_Lord Orochimaru will kill me for doing this. I wonder if escaping wouldn't be such a bad thing to achieve myself…_ Kabuto thought, closing his eyes. Kabuto closed his eyes, and as he slowly opened them again, they flashed a new determination in them.

Naruto ran for about ten minutes through thick grass until he had found his way into a huge forest. The whole time he searched, Sasuke had moaned about shuffled around uncomfortably.

A couple minutes before Naruto had found the forest, he had sat down and taken out the water bottle. He had let Sasuke drink what he wanted, which wasn't that much, then took out the pills.

After a few minutes of Sasuke weakly struggling against Naruto's grip on his head, trying to pry Sasuke's mouth open so he'd swallow the pills he was supposed to take every hour, Sasuke's exhaustion started taking its toll and he gave up, finally opening his mouth to swallow the pill. Then, Naruto gave Sasuke the other pill. After Sasuke swallowed that, very reluctantly, Naruto picked him up and ran.

That's when he found the forest. He glanced around left and right, wondering which way to go. He glanced back down at Sasuke, about to ask him which way to go, when he noticed Sasuke's eyes had clouded over just as he lost consciousness to the pills and his eyelids slipped over.

_Great, now I have no idea where to go._ Naruto took a guess and ran left.

After about twenty minutes of running, he glanced back down at Sasuke, who was still in a deep, wake-less sleep.

_I forgot to ask Kabuto how long those pills would knock him out for._ Naruto thought with a heavy sigh. He continued running.

After about forty minutes of running, Sasuke started to stir. _"Na… Naruto…"_ He whispered, his voice raspy.

"Hey… waking up?" Naruto smiled. Sasuke let out a dry cough. "How are you feeling?" Naruto asked.

"_Hurts…"_ He whispered.

Naruto gave him a synthetic smile, trying to stay calm to make sure Sasuke doesn't get worried. "You shouldn't be in pain at all with the pill that I gave you." He said, slightly surprised.

"_W…what pill?" _He whispered.

_Oh yea. He doesn't remember._ Naruto thought.

"Oh… never mind." He said calmly with a sigh.

Soon after, Sasuke slipped into another uneasy sleep, still slightly moaning in pain.

Naruto felt his forehead and cheeks, determining that there was a rising fever. Sasuke sighed and buried his head into Naruto's chest. Naruto took off his jacket and draped it over his fragile body, before taking off running again.

The next few hours were blurs. There were times when Sasuke sighed into Naruto's chest, making his teammate's cheeks turn a bright pink at the warm breath. There were other times when Sasuke moaned in pain whether in his sleep or awake. The pills barely helped, even though he couldn't register the pain in his sleep after taking them, and he wouldn't suffer for the time they affected him.

After hours of running, Naruto got tired, his body pleading for water. He sat down, drinking tons of water, but leaving some for later, either for when he got thirsty again, or if Sasuke's water ran out. He put his water bottle away, and then checked on Sasuke.

His breathing had a slight wheeze to it, and he was clearly in pain, but nothing so serious that Naruto had no time to rest for five minutes. Sasuke's pale face slightly grimaced, and he caught the breath he inhaled, and then exhaled breathlessly. He tensed with every gasp, making Naruto feel bad that he needed to rest. He wished he could just keep running, but he'd drop the ground if he didn't get a small rest.

He glanced worryingly back at Sasuke, who hitched his breath again. _His breaths won't stop doing that now. _Naruto thought with an unsteady sigh. He took out a plain white rag he had and wiped up some of the sweat the dripped down Sasuke's forehead.

_I've got to get some food in him too._ He thought, glancing around quickly. He had nothing to eat but a banana. _Guess that'll work._ He thought as he put his hand on Sasuke's shoulder, slowly shaking him awake. He blinked open his heavy eyes as he tried to focus on Naruto's blurry face.

"Hey, can you eat something?" Naruto asked him, handing him the banana. Sasuke gave a small nod, taking a small bite. It had felt like _months_ since he had eaten something. Soon after eating the whole banana, lied back down and closed his eyes again. He let out a dry, ragged cough before falling into another uncomfortable sleep.

Naruto relaxed again, seeing his teammate succumb to sleep. He pulled Sasuke close to his chest. He felt afraid to let go, as if letting him go would cause him to die. In a way, it made sense, and in a way, it didn't. He could hear the soft pounding coming from Sasuke's chest as his heart pumped life through Sasuke's veins: a silent metronomethat was as calming as a lullaby to him. It proved his best friend was alive, and he still had a fighting chance. He wouldn't succumb to the poison. His steady heartbeat gave Naruto some confidence that he never before had. He hand clenched together in a tight fist, the curling fingers missing Sasuke's face by mere millimeters.

Sasuke would make it.

Naruto stood up, cradling Sasuke's small body close to his chest, making sure that Sasuke's heartbeat was still audible, even as he took off again, this time not stopping until he reached the Hidden Leaf Village.

"How is he!? Is he ok!? What happened to him!?" Tsunade was immediately greeted with hundreds of questions from Naruto as she exited the intensive care room. She simply closed her amber eyes, sighed, and continued walking, leaving Naruto shrouded in mystery. Of course, he wasn't going to take that.

"Don't just walk away! Answer me!" He yelled. Tsunade didn't take her next step. She turned around and stared at Naruto directly in the eyes. Naruto gulped.

"Well?" He said his voice slightly shaky.

"The twerp won't let me heal him. Not without you in the room. I managed to heal him slightly, but then he woke up and wouldn't let me heal him without you there. I couldn't get a shot of anesthesia into him. You gotta go in there and get him to calm down." She said in a serious tone.

"M-me? What do you want me to say?" Naruto stuttered. Tsunade shrugged. "I don't know. You know him better than I do. You should know. Maybe just your presence in the room will be enough for me to heal him some more. He's just hovering about the danger zone right now."

Naruto nodded, not really sure what to do, but willing to try. He opened to door and walked through the white door, entering the plain, colorless room. White. Everything was too white. White walls, white bed sheets, and even a pale white Sasuke, whose onyx black eyes clashed with the sea of whiteness the room expressed. He glanced up, "N-Naruto?" He half whispered. Naruto blinked. "Sasuke? What's wrong? Why won't you let Tsunade heal you?" He asked.

Sasuke closed his eyes. "I'm… I… I just… don't want anybody healing me. I can recover from the remainder of the poison myself." He sighed, opening his eyes again.

"Sasuke… you have to let her do her job and heal you. Trust me, you'll feel a whole lot better if you just let her heal you."

Sasuke snorted. "I don't need her to sit here while she does nothing but drug me up until I can barely think straight, then execute me for leaving the village."

"She would never do that Sasuke! I would never let her do that!" Naruto said, raising his voice slightly.

"You don't know that Naruto! You think you can change everything but you can't! I've been missing for who knows how long because I went to Orochimaru! I am nothing but a criminal! Tsunade won't give me a chance here!" Sasuke screamed to Naruto, his voice cracking slightly.

"Fine. Then don't let her heal you. Sit there and die like a dog. Fine by me." Naruto said, lowering his voice.

Sasuke let out a soft _hn _before speaking. "I'll die from execution anyway." He spat angrily.

"Sasuke! If I thought there was even a _slight_ chance that they would execute you, do you think I'd bring you back here?"

Sasuke paused before answering. "No." He hissed, narrowing his eyes at Naruto.

"Do you think I would leave Tsunade to treat you if I didn't think she was the best medic there was?"

"No." Sasuke's voice ventured farther into a whisper.

"Do you trust me?" Naruto asked with hopeful eyes.

Sasuke's shoulders dropped, "Yes." His raspy whisper spoke.

"With those justifications in mind, do you think I'd let anything happen to you?"

"No." He sighed, closing his eyes in defeat; settling back into the blankets and blinking his eyes a few times more before closing them for good. His eyelids didn't open again. Naruto smiled at the sight of Sasuke sleeping peacefully. He heard the door creak open.

"Did you calm him down?" Tsunade asked. Naruto nodded. "Good. Thank you, Naruto." She said.

"Now go on, let me get the remainder of the poison out of his body." She said. Naruto had no choice; he got up and left the room.

Naruto wasn't sure how long he had been napping, but when he woke up, he was still on the waiting room bench. He glanced up at the clock. _Holy cow! It's already one in the morning! I wonder how Sasuke is doing?_ He wondered, as he sat up and yawned. The door slid open, and Tsunade ambled out.

"Ah. Awake, eh?" She said with a playful smile. Naruto rubbed his eye.

"Yea. How's Sasuke?" He asked.

Tsunade smiled. "He's doing fine. He's sleeping right now. The kid's exhausted, but alive. I bet he'll sleep through the next two days." She said.

"But he's ok right?" Naruto asked worryingly. He smiled as Tsunade gave him a quiet nod.

"It's late Naruto. Go to bed. You can see Sasuke in the morning." Naruto quietly went home, waiting for the next day to come by so he could visit Sasuke.

What would Tsunade do with Sasuke? That question rung in his head all night long.

The next morning came quickly, and the first question he asked Tsunade was the same one that lingered through his mind.

Tsunade sighed. "I thought about that too. I made my decision last night."

Naruto gulped.

"He'll be put under house arrest for the next two weeks. If he seems ok we will allow him to stay in our village."

Naruto's grin grew as wide as the Leaf Village.

"YES!!!!!" He screamed.

"Hey! Quiet kid! This is a hospital!" Tsunade scolded, but Naruto was too happy to care. He was too happy that Sasuke would be safe and sound in the Leaf Village.

Sasuke woke up two and a half days after he had first been brought to the hospital. He stayed in the hospital for an extra day and a half after that. After being discharged, Sasuke went to his home.

Sasuke hated being under house arrest, but didn't do anything to make him seem suspicious. The two weeks strolled by, and Sasuke was now considered a regular citizen of the Leaf Village.

Naruto and Sasuke always stayed close after that. They were often found eating lunch together, or practicing their training with each other.

The experience had rattled them both, but at the same time, brought their friendship back together, this time, even closer than ever before.

For once, they were both happy; even Sasuke.

**End**

**UGH!! TT__TT I hate writing endings because I suck at them! Suckish endings seem to be what I do best. Lol. I also hate writing endings because it means that it's the end of writing a story I've been working hard on. I really enjoyed writing this, and I hope to you, my readers, that you enjoyed this story as well. Thank you for sticking through the whole story!!**

**Please, if you are interested, PM me about my "Unidentified Sickness" book. It's a book about Sasuke getting sick, very sick. Sounds kinda boring, but the sickness is unidentified, and it doesn't go away. Pretty much a disease. The symptoms are horrible though, and Sasuke suffers tremendously. Naruto and Sakura do everything to help him, but they are powerless against it. **

**Pretty much, it's about Sasuke's struggle for survival.**

**I think my friend is going to have a mental breakdown if he doesn't read it, but I'm waiting for some requests first.**

**The book will be about 40 chapters, I believe. It will be packed full of action, emotion, and friendship! It may seem to get a little close to pairings, but it's all friendship. Both Sasuke and Naruto, and Sasuke and Sakura. No pairings, at all.**

**There will be someone random coming into the story. He will be a very important character to the story and he's made up. ****He is not my OC. I do NOT have a OC, and don't want one!**** He is simply a character that I needed to add to the story. He will never show up in any other books! Just a "filler" kinda character.**

**Thanks for reading!! ^^**

**~SasukeUchihasGuardian**


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